Guard for the striking devices of piano-players.



No. 756,853. PATENTED APR.12,1904- F. w. HBDGELAND.

GUARD FOR THE STRIKING DEVICES 0F PIANO PLAYERS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Patented April 12, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. HEDGELAND, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GUARD FOR THE STRIKING DEVICES OF PIANO-PLAYERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,853, dated April 12, 1904.

\ Application filed June 22, 1903. Serial No. 162,523. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. HEDGE- LAND, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedanew and usefulImprovement in Guards for the Striking Devices of Piano-Players, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is intended, mainly, to protect the strikers or fingers, as they are quite generally called, of piano-players when positioning the players in operative relation to the pianos, though it may also serve as a guide to the fingers during the playing.

The invention has been devised more especially for use in that class of players in which the striking devices depend vertically from actuating pneumatics located above the plane of the keyboard.

I have fully set forth the invention in the description given below, and I have also illus trated it in the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the invention, showing it in the position occupied when the player is in its operative relation to the piano. Fig. -2 is a like view showing the invention as guarding the fingers while the player is being moved into operative position over the piano. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the invention.

In the drawings, 5 represents the white, and 6 the black, keys of a piano having a player positioned in operative relation to it, and 7 represents the action-board of the player,

from which board the actuating or power pneumatics 8 of the player are supported. Each of the strikers or fingers 9 is attached to the movable side of one of the pneumatics, as plainly illustrated in two instances in Fig. 1, so as to be depressed and strike its proper key when its corresponding pneumatic collapses. a

To prevent injury to the fingers 9 when the player is being moved into operative position in front of the piano, I provide a swinging frame consisting of a bar 10, extending from end to end of the row of fingers, and supporting-arms 11 at each end of the bar, the arms 5 being pivoted to the side wall or other stationary part of the player, as shown at 12. The bar 10 is provided with vertical perforations 13 and 1 1, adapted to receive the lower ends of the fingers and made enough larger in diameter than the fingers to allow them to operate on the keys without creating friction, the perforations being sized, shaped, and located to correspond to the size, shape, and location of the fingers. When the frame is in the normal position, (seen at Fig. 1,) the perforations act as guides to the fingers in their vertical movements received from the pneumatics, and it is maintained in this position by one or more lifting-springs 15, attached to the arm or arms 11 and to some stationary part-as, for instance, the board 16. The function just mentioned as being served by the swinging frame is, however, only an incidental one, its main purpose being that of v a guard for the fingers while the player is being moved into position in front of the piano and at other times when the player is not in operative position, and to enable it to perform this latter function I depress it from the position of Fig. 1 sufficiently to enable the bar to practically cover the extreme lower ends of the fingers, as seen at Fig. 2, so that the fingers cannot come in contact with external objects and will be in no danger of injury at such times. The frame-is retained in the depressed position by any suitable device which is adapted both to eifect the depression of the frame and to hold it depressed as long as desired, and I prefer to employ a bar 17, extending parallel with and over the bar 10 and supported at its ends by hangers 18, pivoted stationarily at 19. The bar 17 is controlled from the front of the player by a rod 20, adapted to swing the rod bodily, so it will depress the bar 10 and hold it depressed as long as necessary, as in Fig. 2, or so as to release the bar and allow it to rise under the power of springs 15, as in Fig. 1.

I prefer that the outer edge of bar 10 be rounded off, as shown.

In its normal position the device .acts' as a guard as well as a guide, though not so efiectively as in its lower position.

I claim 1. The combination with a piano-player of I 0 a vertically-adjustable bar having perforations through Which the fingers pass, and having two positions in one of which it acts as a guard and in the other of which it acts as a guide to the fingers, and means for supporting and adjusting said bar.

FREDERICK W. HEDGELAND.

WVitnesses:

EDW. S. EvAR'rs, H. M. MUNDAY. 

